TAPPS changes policy to accommodate "all member schools"

The basketball season ended months ago for Beren Academy, an Orthodox Jewish day school in Houston.

But the roller coaster ride the team went through may have taken its final turn this week. The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools – Texas’ governing body for most private schools – changed its by-laws to accommodate religious days of observance to all its members.

The chance is effective immediately.

The announcement on the TAPPS website reads the accommodation “shall be the standard as TAPPS prepares for state competitions that are accessible to all member schools and the students that they serve through team activities.”

The controversy began in March right before the TAPPS state basketball tournament. Beren initially qualified for the tournament but had to remove itself from contention when it could not observe its Sabbath (sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) and play in the semifinals, which was scheduled for Friday evening.

“I’m just really, really glad that TAPPS did this,” said Kevin Klein, the Arlington Burton Adventist Academy athletic director who has seen multiple teams from his school forfeit playoff game due to scheduling. “This is the single-biggest news that we could ever get from TAPPS. Now it takes a whole new meaning when we’re practicing and they know that a state championship is a distinct possibility.”

The news surrounding Beren went international and TAPPS quickly found itself under attack for those wanted the organization to change its rules.

Beren twice had appeals denied but when parents of some players filed suit, TAPPS rescheduled the game. The Stars won the semifinal but lost in the championship game.

Before Beren last year, there was Burton Adventist. The school twice forfeited boys basketball playoff games in 2001 and 2004.

Seventh-day Adventists also observe the Sabbath.

“Pure elation really – relief that we don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Klein said. “That announcement means a lot to our entire student body. You start thinking about the kids. They won’t have to be without that opportunity.

“I thought about all the battles we fought, all the times we didn’t get to go. It all means something.”

In 2010, Burton’s soccer team almost had to forfeit its spot in the state tournament but TAPPS made last-minute concessions. That helped open the door for Beren.

So help me out here, WHY did beren join a league it knew it couldn’t live up to its performance obligations? Beren’s parents and the underling feeling of the A.D. really showed their kids how the world rolls, sue quickly. I wouldn’t schedule this school out of principle.